Democratic Republic of Afghanistan

The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) was a socialist state that existed in Afghanistan from 1978 to 1992, with Kabul serving as its capital. The republic was proclaimed after the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan seized power in the 30 April 1978 Saur Revolution, with Nur Muhammad Taraki overthrowing Muhammad Daoud Khan's authoritarian regime. The DRA introduced equal rights for women, universal education, and land reform, but the republic was faced with power struggles between the Khalq faction of Taraki and Hafizullah Amin and the Parcham faction of Babrak Karmal. The Khalqists won and purged the Parchamites from the party, exiling them to the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. The Khalq faction then began to undergo infighting between Taraki and Amin, and Amin had Taraki killed. Amin was deeply unpopular due to his reforms, however, and the Soviet Union intervened and assassinated Amin on 27 December 1978 before invading the country. Babrak Karmal and the Parcham faction returned to power, and the Parcham faction, assisted by the Soviet Army, attempted to crush the Islamist Mujahideen insurgents in the Soviet-Afghan War of 1979-1992. In 1986, Mohammad Najibullah became the new PDPA Secretary-General, but the situation deteriorated as the Soviets began to withdraw troops in the late 1980s. Aggressive armed opposition, internal divisions, a failed Khalqist coup in 1990, and the Dissolution of the Soviet Union led to the government becoming weak. A last-minute change of allegiance by the communist warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum in 1992 led to the DRA's collapse, and it was succeeded by the Islamic State of Afghanistan.